A picosecond (abbreviated as ps) is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to 10−12 or 1⁄1 000 000 000 000 (one trillionth) of a second. That is one trillionth, or one millionth of one millionth of a second, or 0.000 000 000 001 seconds.
picosecond | |
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Unit system | SI |
Unit of | time |
Symbol | ps |
Conversions | |
1 ps in ... | ... is equal to ... |
SI units | 10−12 s |
A picosecond is to one second, as one second is to approximately 31,688.76 years.
Multiple technical approaches achieve imaging within single-digit picoseconds: for example, the streak camera or intensified CCD (ICCD) cameras are able to picture the motion of light.[1][2]
One picosecond is equal to 1000 femtoseconds, or 1/1000 nanoseconds. Because the next SI unit is 1000 times larger, measurements of 10−11 and 10−10 second are typically expressed as tens or hundreds of picoseconds. Some notable measurements in this range include: